Little Nemo Meets Waldo
by Deab Yobckey
Summary: This is a crossover between Winsor McCay's "Little Nemo in Slumberland" and Martin Handford's "Where's Waldo."


Little Nemo awoke, or dreamed that he awoke, to Flip tugging at his blankets.

"Hey, Nemo. I've got something ta show you."

"Oh, um, Flip! You are always getting me into trouble. Let me sleep, please."

"Come on, Nemo," Flip dragged him out of bed by his sleeve.

"Ouch! Um! You're pulling me, Flip!" Nemo interjected.

"It was hard for me to get it here, so at least be thankful!"

Flip dragged Nemo – not very carefully – down the hall, and Nemo noticed that it had gold pillars and pictures of savannah on the walls.

"Oh! Flip! My mother will be angry that you brought this here!" Nemo said.

Standing in front of Nemo was a huge ostrich, or at least it seemed to be one. Its legs stretched up through a hole in the ceiling, and its black, feathery body was all Nemo could see besides them.

"We won't be here, long, Nemo. Come on, let's have some fun." Flip pushed a huge ladder up to it, and rested it on the Ostrich.

Flip made Nemo climb up first.

"Oh, Flip. I don't think this ladder is safe!" Nemo was probably right. The ladder was quite wobbly, and Nemo was already shaking from anxiety.

"Huh. Well, you won't need it once you're riding it. We'll leave the ladder behind, and get a new one." Flip climbed behind. "Climb faster, Nemo. I hear your mother coming."

"Oh it really is an ostrich. At least its feathers are soft." Nemo climbed to his place right behind the neck. "Wheo, the sky is very clear tonight." Nemo looked down from the ostrich. "And the city looks so very small. I can see a party going on in the square. Oh, I forgot it was new years."

"We will have a party better than those people in the square, Nemo, now move out of my seat."

"Ouch! Flip! You almost pushed me off. Oh, why can't you be nicer?"

"Only I know how to steer this creature. If you did it, we wouldn't get anywhere." Flip grabbed at a gold chain around the creature's neck. "This is a magic chain. When I put this key into the lock in it, the ostrich will obey me." Flip showed Nemo the key. Nemo felt as though Flip was bragging. "As we go tonight, we must take care not to lose this key."

Then, Flip put the key in the chain, and the ostrich lurched forward, tearing through Nemo's house with its feet. Nemo fell, and had to grab the bird's feather's to stay on.

"Oh, my house! My house! Flip, I thought you were controlling this!"

"I am controlling it! But we are in a hurry to get moving!"

The ostrich ran very quickly over the town, and into the countryside.

"Where are we going, Flip?"

"Trust me, Nemo, we're going to have a lot of fun there, Nemo, but I forgot what it was called."

The ostrich soon came to a stop, and lowered itself and them in the midst of a strange town.

"Oh, these are such bright colors! I think my eyes are going to hurt." Nemo rubbed his eyes, and looked up. "Wheo! So many balloons! And such strange people riding them." Then Nemo looked down into the town. "There are so many people! Um, I don't like large crowds."

"Now I remember what it's called. This is clown town, Nemo. The people here are a lot of fun."

The town itself was too much to take in. A mass population of clowns in garish and unbelievable outfits covered the town, walking, riding balloons, and on the roof of every building, covering practically every available surface.

Splat! Squirt! Toot toot! Tee hee! Ha ha! Everywhere, clowns were making mischief, with custard pies, shiny noses, and squirty flowers. Nemo didn't like it. Clowns scared him.

"Now, let's have some fun, Nemo." Flip carefully climbed off the ostrich, which had lowered its body to ground level. "And make sure we don't lose the – oof!" Flip tripped, and the key went flying out of his hand, and into the crowd of clowns.

"Oh! Um! You've done it now, Flip! Now we'll never get home!" Nemo climbed off the ostrich far more gracefully than Flip.

"Watch now, Nemo. I'll find it. Just stop worrying." Flip stepped forward to look for it, but got sprayed in the face by clowns from every direction. "Ouch! Um! Stop! I am a clown, too!"

Nemo started to cry. He didn't believe they would ever make it home.

"Hey, don't cry." It wasn't Flips voice, or anyone Nemo recognized. Nemo turned and saw a strange man with a hat and cane, dressed in red and white stripes. To Nemo, he looked just like a candy cane. "What's wrong?" He asked.

"Oh. Um, we've lost the key to our ostrich, and now we'll never get home."

"Oh, that's too bad. I lost my key too."

"What's it for?"

"I don't know." The man smiled. "I'm Waldo."

"I'm Nemo."

"Maybe if we look together, we'll be able to find your key."


End file.
